Lambo in my school parking lot!!

Your appreciation of Italian art is to be commended, even if it is a Lamborghini. If I were that guy though, I would be concerned that some tie-dye wearing, save the whales, Howard Dean supporting, PETA membership-having, George Bush KNEW about 9/11 beforehand believing, I HATE AMERICA student will key the car. HE better be careful having a car like that on ANY college campus, they are, after all, the hotbeds of the American socialist/communist movement.

 

What an absolute joke !! When I was in college the first Gulf War was underway and I had so many classes cancelled by pinko/communist professors who thought they were being paid to protest rather than teach that my father said to me one day, the third day in a row that I was home for free meals and mom's laundry service: "WTF am I paying tuition for?"

 

grey interior...exterior?

 

LOL, no doubt.

MTV is advertising this week that 18 million people between the ages of 18 - 30 voted in the last presidential election, and that this year they're shooting for 20 million.

My first thought was how many of those 18 million were actual home owners, or parents, or other people who have REAL responsibilities in this world, and are best qualified to evaluate the merits of a tax cut, or other economic stimulus.

Sitting in your parent-paid-for dorm room, with your parent-paid-for car, and then lecturing me on the merits of a classless society isn't exactly going to take hold too firmly, lol. (Not you tifosi, I'm referring to a hypothetical MTV voter).

It's very easy to be a socially concious humanitarian liberal when you're:

1. Already rich. (Hence why every Hollywood actor/actress is a liberal, because they can afford to be.)

2. A student with everything paid for and no financial obligations to anyone else besides your bartender. (Taxes mean nothing to you, what are those??)

 

No fair, below the belt. I can't be held in disdain because my father wanted to/and could pay for my school. He wanted me to have it better than him, what's wrong with that? And besides that, I have enough sense to know when the MTV, Hollywood liberal establishment is selling us a bill of goods. I am in business for myself, have been since 1998, and the DAY i graduated college went out on my own, with NO HELP from Daddy, and bought my first house at the age of 24 and KNOW AND UNDERSTAND the REAL WORLD, unlike these idiots at 18 who think it's a show on MTV. I had the same conversation with my wife the other night. Personally, I think 18 is too young to vote, all it does it clog up the booths with people who have NO IDEA what's going on, what it is like to make a living or start and run a business, and they vote the way Eminem, Ice T, Madonna, 50cent, ice pick, snickers bar, tampax, or whomever the newest name-du-jour is from the MTV crowd, TELLS them to vote.

 

Sorry Mako, my machine refreshed too slowly, I apologize, I did not read this part. But, nevertheless I stand by what I said.

 

LOL, good post. I wish no disdain on college students who had everything paid for by their parents, my OWN parents paid for my college in its entirety. Didn't mean it to come off that way, but I see how it could. I just don't like how it tends to breed liberal viewpoints in our youth BEFORE they have a chance to pay their own taxes or feed their own families, which might shape their opinions just a little bit differently a few years later.

There are a LOT of "born-again conservatives" who at the age of 32 or so suddenly realize that "holy $hit, I've got two kids to feed, a house to pay off, I make $60k a year, and the liberals want to tax me MORE???"

You should also recognize the fact that at 24 and owning a house, and 28 and owning your own business, you were far above the norm of the average MTV voter. Plus you also have enough sense to ignore pop culture icons and their influence over you, which again is rare.

I have to go now, I start my Kaballah training today. Britney and Madonna rave about it...Where is my little red wrist band?? LOL

 

You're absolutely right, although this is the second person now that mistook my college rant...I must have written it wrong, sorry, meant no disrespect to all-paid-for college students, I was one myself.

Anyway, the funniest part about the ignorance most liberals share in regards to the tax code is this stellar example:

Ross Perot made a realized annual income of around $180M last year.

Based on the tax code, he SHOULD have paid roughly $60M to the government in taxes. What did he ACTUALLY pay?

$12M. Legally.

How?

Because the top 1% of the wealthy individuals in this country can pay for the finest accountants, CPAs, legal team, etc, to devise 100% legal ways to circumvent the tax code in their favor, while the middle class, and lower class, cannot.

THAT is the liberal disease of the mind that you referenced. THAT is the true class heirarchy that is holding this country back. Liberals buy into the "raise the taxes on everyone 2x, but raise the taxed for the rich by 100x!" argument, but unfortunately the only people that actually PAY the higher taxes once they're established is themselves.

The tax code could be revised to lower taxes for the highest bracket by -50% tomorrow, and liberals scream bloody murder, all the while not recognizing that the top 1% pays less than that ALREADY. Comedy.

 

Thanks, sorry, I only SAW the first part of your post. BTW, what's the Kaballah training like? My brother-in-law is into that but he's a flaming pro-union, self-proclaimed communist so I thought it was BS. Any insight would be greatly appreciated, if for no other reason than I would like to have solid points with which to argue with him. I'm such a bastard !!

 

Interesting comment. I'm very liberal myself (socialist, really) and I've never
keyed a car in my life. However a friend of mine had his truck keyed in the
red neck town we live in. Why? He had a "shame on you Mr. Bush" bumper
sticker..........

 

lol, I was just kidding, I made that comment as a toungue-in-cheek reference to the influence of pop stars into religion and other areas. I know nothing about the Kaballah, I couldn't even tell you how to spell it.

 

i once saw a 355 spider parked outside my school once

 

I grew up in Bethesda Maryland and knew of some pretty mean kids who would key cars and/or destroy property that wasn't their own. These particular individuals were not liberal socialist.

These kids had conservative republican type parents who did not pay enough attention to them if love them at all. Compounding the lack of love was the constant embarrassement these kids brought upon their well to do parents. If it wasn't one thing it was another.

The liberal socialist types I knew of wouldn't know a Ferrari or Lamborghini if it ran over their frisbees and hacky sacks. They did however know the Ferrari and Lamborghini's of Bong makers.

 

According to IRS statistics, the top 1% of Americans average a tax rate of about 24%. While that's certainly not as high as the top figure bracket (what is it now, 36%?), you'll notice that nobody pays the amount of taxes that they are supposed to, thanks to deductions, etc.

I really hate it though when liberals try to say "The rich don'y pay their fair share! Only the poor and middle classes are paying taxes!", cause it simply isn't true. According to IRS statistics, the top 1% of Americans (those making over about $300,000) per year, make 18% of the nations income, but pay 34% of all taxes. Compare that to the bottom 50% of Americans whole all together pay only a measly 4% of our nation's taxes. Who does the burden fall upon again?

I had to write a paper on it about a month ago, and liberal/conservative views aside, a flat tax system (17%) would actually be a very good thing. The economic growth caused by it would negate the burden of paying extra taxes for the lowest groups. In fact, some studies showed that the group to actually benefit most from a flat tax system, in terms of their increased wealth, would be the poorest 20% of Americans. Something to think about...

 

MTV=GARBAGE.

 

The reason Ross Perot made so much money yet paid so little in taxes, is because most of his money is invested in tax exempt municipal bonds. The interest paid on them (typically 5 to 6 %) is exempt from federal tax, and if they are issued by your state (incase it also has a state income tax) free from state income tax.

The bond money gets used buy the states to build new schools, roads, bridges, and other job creating and economic vitalization. It's a win win for everyone involved.

 

Excellent post, you have a FIRM grasp on the REALITY of American tax code, too bad more people don't. I'm with you, flat tax is the way to go. I wanted Steve Forbes for Pres in 92.

 

Why thank you very much! Didn't Steve Forbes run for president in '96 also? I remember doing a poster on him in 8th grade. I think that It was really the '96 elections that brought the concept of a flat tax to the attention of the general public, and since then, support for an alternative taxation system has been rising, and I believe is currently around 60%. Of the possible alternatives, a flat tax is the most popular option.

This year's presidential election will be the first I get to vote in (I turn 18 in May), so while I can't exactly show my support for a flat tax system in this election, I'm hoping that the flat tax will be part of the platform for some Republican candidates in 2008.

 

Well, as a Ferrari (and all Italian car)-loving, U.S. flag-waving, ex Air Force, non-Republican who thinks the flat tax's appeal is based on a gross over-simplification of the operation of the tax code, I have to weigh in. The fact is that the U.S. tax structure is in operation already relatively flat – this is based largely on the impact of the regressive payroll tax, and even more so by regressive state and local taxes. Those U.S. taxpayers in the bottom fifth of the population or “quintile” (people earning on average $7,946) pay almost exactly the same percentage of their income in taxes as people in the top quintile (people earning on average $116,666). The bottom fifth pays 18 percent, the top fifth pays 19 percent, and the three groups in between pay between 14 percent and 17 percent. There's some variation there, but not a hell of a lot. Now, one other point - don't paint with too broad a brush and assume that everyone who loves Ferrari's (or Maser's, Lambo's, etc.) or cars in general is a right winger. There are those of us who love cars and are, dare I say it, Democrats! Cheers all.

 

The IRS says otherwise.

Average tax rates according to the IRS:

Code:

Top 1%:      27.5%
Top 5%:      23.68%
Top 10%      21.41%
Top 25%:     18.08%
Top 50%:     15.85%
Bottom 50%:  4.09%